Sorry goannas, you'll have to dine somewhere else

TWO environmental groups have joined forces to ensure turtle eggs stay off the menu of goannas which are destroying between 80%-90% of nests at Wreck Rock Beach near Agnes Water.

WWF Australia has teamed up with the Burnett Mary Regional Group to trial a device which protects turtle nests from goannas at Wreck Rock Beach, the second largest mainland nesting site in the South Pacific Ocean after Mon Repos.

The Wreck Rock Turtle Research Team is trialling 30 predator exclusion devices from December 2013 to the end of February 2014 and sensor cameras have been set up at both protected and unprotected nests to record predator behaviour and to measure the success of the devices.

WWF-Australia Species Conservation Project Coordinator Christine Hof said already a goanna had been pictured failing to reach protected eggs.

The devices installed are aluminium grills with sides which are placed over and around the nests.

Baby turtles can squeeze through the grill but it is small enough to stop goannas and does not interfere with the baby turtle's use of the Earth's magnetic field for navigation.

"If these devices work they're going to be a wonderful option to protect loggerhead turtle nests into the future and safeguard their survival," Ms Hof said.

"Australia's eastern beaches support the only significant population of loggerhead turtles in the South Pacific Ocean and after being pushed to the brink we need to do all we can to help them rebuild their numbers."

Crucial to the trial are Wreck Rock Turtle Research Team volunteers Nev and Bev McLachlan who have monitored turtles at Wreck Rock Beach during the nesting season every year starting on their honeymoon in 1977.

"Each night we patrol 22km of beach tagging turtles that come in to lay eggs and when the baby turtles emerge we check how many hatch and look at ways to improve that success rate," Mr McLachlan said.

"I just want to make sure that loggerheads are around for our children and our children's children because they're such beautiful creatures," his wife added.